When you feel unwell in Poland, the very first sentence you reach for is built backwards from English. "My head hurts" becomes Boli mnie głowa — literally "head hurts me", with the body part as the subject and you as the object. This page gives you the body-part vocabulary, the boli mnie pattern, the gender-marked way to say "I'm sick", and the phrases for describing symptoms and getting better. Master these and you can survive a cold, a headache, and a visit to the doctor.
Body parts
Knowing the gender of each body part matters, because it controls the verb (boli vs. bolą) and any adjective. Here are the high-frequency ones with their gender:
| Polish | English | Gender |
|---|---|---|
| głowa | head | f. |
| gardło | throat | n. |
| ząb | tooth | m. |
| brzuch | stomach, belly | m. |
| ręka | hand, arm | f. |
| noga | leg, foot | f. |
| plecy | back | plural only |
| ucho | ear | n. |
| oko | eye | n. |
| serce | heart | n. |
| nos | nose | m. |
Two of these have irregular plurals you will meet immediately: ręka → ręce "hands/arms", noga → nogi "legs", oko → oczy "eyes", ucho → uszy "ears". And plecy "back" is pluralia tantum — it has no singular and always takes a plural verb.
The boli mnie construction
To say a body part hurts, use the verb boleć "to hurt, ache". The structure is:
Boli + [person in accusative] + [body part as subject]
The body part is the grammatical subject; the person who feels the pain is the object in the accusative. There is no possessive — you never say "my head hurts" word-for-word; the mnie ("me") already tells you whose head it is.
Boli mnie głowa.
My head hurts. (literally: head hurts me)
Boli mnie gardło i trochę kaszlę.
My throat hurts and I'm coughing a bit.
Strasznie boli mnie ząb, muszę iść do dentysty.
My tooth hurts terribly, I have to go to the dentist.
The accusative object pronouns you need: mnie (me), cię / ciebie (you sg.), go (him), ją (her), nas (us), was (you pl.), ich (them).
Co cię boli?
What hurts? / What's hurting you? (the standard question)
Babcię bolą plecy, kiedy długo stoi.
Grandma's back hurts when she stands for a long time.
Singular vs. plural: boli vs. bolą
The verb agrees with the body part, because it is the subject. One body part → boli (3rd sg.). More than one (or a plural-only noun like plecy) → bolą (3rd pl.).
Bolą mnie nogi po wczorajszej wycieczce.
My legs hurt after yesterday's trip. (nogi plural → bolą)
Bolą mnie oczy od patrzenia w ekran.
My eyes hurt from staring at the screen.
Saying you're sick: chory / chora
"I am sick" is Jestem chory if you are male, Jestem chora if you are female. The adjective chory "sick, ill" agrees with the speaker in gender — so the very act of saying you're unwell reveals whether the speaker is a man or a woman.
| Subject | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| man (sg.) | chory | Jestem chory. |
| woman (sg.) | chora | Jestem chora. |
| neuter (e.g. dziecko) | chore | Dziecko jest chore. |
| men / mixed group | chorzy | Jesteśmy chorzy. |
| women only | chore | Jesteśmy chore. |
Nie przyjdę dziś do pracy, jestem chora.
I won't come to work today, I'm sick. (said by a woman)
Mój syn jest chory, ma wysoką gorączkę.
My son is sick, he has a high fever.
Symptoms: mam katar, kaszel, gorączkę
For most common symptoms, Polish uses mieć "to have" + the symptom in the accusative:
| Polish | English |
|---|---|
| mam katar | I have a runny nose / a cold (in the nose) |
| mam kaszel | I have a cough |
| mam gorączkę | I have a fever (gorączka → gorączkę) |
| mam grypę | I have the flu |
| mam przeziębienie | I have a cold |
| jest mi niedobrze | I feel sick / nauseous |
Mam katar i kaszel, chyba się przeziębiłam.
I have a runny nose and a cough, I think I've caught a cold. (woman speaking)
Mam gorączkę, prawie trzydzieści dziewięć stopni.
I have a fever, almost thirty-nine degrees.
Feeling better or worse: czuć się
To describe how you feel overall, use the reflexive czuć się "to feel" + an adverb (not an adjective): dobrze "well", źle "badly", lepiej "better", gorzej "worse". Because it is an adverb, it does not change for gender — this is a relief after chory/chora.
Czuję się dużo lepiej, dziękuję.
I feel much better, thank you.
Źle się czuję od rana.
I've been feeling unwell since morning.
Jak się czujesz po lekach?
How do you feel after the medicine?
At the doctor: u lekarza
To say you are at the doctor's, use u + genitive: u lekarza "at the doctor's", u dentysty "at the dentist's". To say you are going to the doctor, use do + genitive: do lekarza. This u/do split (location vs. destination, both genitive) trips up English speakers, who use one preposition "at/to the doctor".
Byłam wczoraj u lekarza, przepisał mi antybiotyk.
I was at the doctor's yesterday, he prescribed me an antibiotic. (woman speaking)
Muszę umówić się do lekarza na jutro.
I have to make a doctor's appointment for tomorrow.
The doctor's first question is almost always Co panu/pani dolega? "What's troubling you?" (formal) or Co cię boli? (informal). For a full clinic conversation, see the doctor dialogue and the health expressions page.
Common Mistakes
❌ Moja głowa boli.
Incorrect — no possessive; the sufferer goes in the accusative, not a possessive 'my'
✅ Boli mnie głowa.
My head hurts. (head = subject, mnie = accusative object)
❌ Jestem chory.
Incorrect when a woman is speaking — wrong gender on the adjective
✅ Jestem chora.
I'm sick. (woman speaking → feminine chora)
❌ Boli mnie nogi.
Incorrect — plural subject needs plural verb
✅ Bolą mnie nogi.
My legs hurt. (nogi plural → bolą)
❌ Czuję się dobry.
Incorrect — czuć się takes an adverb, not an adjective
✅ Czuję się dobrze.
I feel well.
❌ Mam gorączka.
Incorrect — mieć takes the accusative
✅ Mam gorączkę.
I have a fever. (gorączka → gorączkę)
Key Takeaways
- Boli mnie + body part: the body part is the subject, the sufferer is in the accusative, and there is no possessive. Plural body parts → bolą.
- "I'm sick" is gender-marked: chory (m.) / chora (f.) / chore (n.). Symptoms use mieć + accusative (mam gorączkę).
- Czuć się takes an adverb (czuję się lepiej), so it does not change for gender.
- At the doctor: u lekarza (where you are) vs. do lekarza (where you're going), both genitive.
Now practice Polish
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- At the Doctor and Talking About HealthB1 — The phrase bank for health in Polish — Co panu/pani dolega?, the Boli mnie… construction (where the body part is the SUBJECT in the nominative and you are the accusative object: Boli mnie głowa = 'aches me the head'), Źle się czuję, Mam gorączkę / katar / kaszel, Jestem przeziębiony, plus recepta and apteka — and why 'I have a headache' inverts into a structure English has no equivalent for.
- Annotated Dialogue: At the DoctorB1 — A Polish doctor's-visit dialogue — Co panu dolega?, Boli mnie…, Źle się czuję, Mam gorączkę — annotated to show the boli mnie construction (the body part is the subject), czuć się + adverb, the dative/accusative experiencer, and formal pan/pani address.
- Dative Subject: Feelings and StatesB1 — The pervasive Polish construction where the experiencer of a feeling stands in the dative and the predicate is impersonal — zimno mi, smutno mi, podoba mi się, nudzi mi się, chce mi się, udało mi się — with no nominative subject at all.
- Making Adjectives Agree: The BasicsA1 — The first adjective skill: matching the ending to the noun's gender in the nominative — dobry dom, dobra kawa, dobre dziecko.
- boleć — to hurt, acheA2 — Full reference for boleć ('to hurt, ache'): the 3rd-person-only present boli/bolą, the gendered past bolał/bolało/bolały, the perfective rozboleć, and the inverted health construction where the body part is the subject and the person is the accusative object — Boli mnie głowa, Bolą mnie nogi.